Ghost of Our Past: Part One
by Lala5354
Summary: When Rose begins to remember his past, his physical and mental state start to deteriorate. Will the Vizards be able to help him out of the nightmare that is his past? And what will they do when Love begins to remember his past as well?
1. Chapter 1

Ghost of Our Past: Part One

A/N: Yo! Well here's another Vizard story. Anyway….it's only my second Bleach fanfic….so please still be nice ^^;

As usual, please forgive any grammar or spelling errors. But I hope you guys like it.

Note: I don't own Bleach.

Rating: T (Blood and Cursing)

Well, enjoy :P

Chapter One

_Rose walked through the rotting house, looking at the holes in the roof and the dry, splintering floor. He'd only walked through two rooms in the house and was now making his way to the last. However as he approached he couldn't help but feel uncomfortable, nervous in a way. Slowly he made his way to the doorway, looking carefully around the corner._

~0~

Each Vizard downstairs reacted differently to the ear shattering scream that echoed through the warehouse and the reiatsu that spiked so high they could barely breathe. Kensei had gone on instant alert, his body tensing and his fist tightening. Mashiro had jumped, looking like a deer in headlights while Lisa glanced up, her brows furrowing. Hachi stood, readying to help if needed while Hiyori flinched, then busted out laughing. Shinji had been drinking a full bottle of water when he heard the scream. He'd jerked, his muscles tensing and crushing his water. His shirt and pants were now soaked and his jaw length blond hair dripping wet. He glared at Hiyori as she laughed at him, giving her the finger while she clutched her sides in now painful laughter. Shinji growled, his long straight teeth showing. Love had been reading one of Rose's manga, but stalled when he'd heard the blond scream.

"Why'd Rose-kun scream?" Mashiro asked, looking to Kensei with worried eyes.

No one had ever heard him scream before, so they really didn't know what to think or how to react at first.

"I don't know." Kensei said, looking to Shinji.

"Well don't look at me!" He barked, throwing out his hands.

They all grew worried when Rose's spirit pressure bottomed out. Love, who had shown the least reaction to the incident, stood. Looking at the others with a bored expression he sighed.

"I'll go check it out." He said, walking up the tattered stairs to the third level of their home.

No one could tell what Love really thought, his sunglasses blocking the only key to his emotions.

Love walked past a handful of empty rooms and finally stopped when he made it to Rose's room. The door was shut tight and he listened to the quiet inside and out of the room. Shrugging and knocking softly he wasn't surprised when the door didn't open. He grabbed the handle and turned it, slowly swinging the plain gray door open, looking on in mild shock at the figure hunched over in his bed. Rose had his knees up and his elbows propped on top of them, his head in his hands. His face was hidden by the curtain of blond curly hair. He was bare apart from black sweat pants fixed lazily on his hips. The dark scar left by the white haired Espada a year ago was an odd contrast to his pale, unmarred body. It would never cease to amaze Love or the other Vizards how truly thin that man was. And though he was in perfect health, his body would make you think otherwise. His ribs and spine showed easily and his hips looked painful the way the jutted out. Love walked up to Rose's bed, kneeing it softly. The blond didn't look up but finally responded to the others presence.

"Yes Love-kun?" He asked.

To anyone else Rose would have sounded normal, but Love wasn't anyone else. He'd known Rose longer then he could remember and he easily picked up on the shaky tones that laced Rose's voice.

"What happened?" Love asked. "You almost crushed us with that spirit pressure of yours." He said.

Rose was quiet for a moment. "Nothing Love, just a nightmare." He said.

"About what?" Love asked, Rose wasn't lying, but something was still slightly off.

Once again Rose was quiet, but longer this time. "It's silly really, I just dreamed that Azien won the war and killed everyone." He said, looking up to Love with an embarrassed grin.

Love's brows rose. "Really…." He stayed quiet. "Man, I think I'd scream to. There's no tellin' what he would've done if he won." Love said, he didn't even want to know what would have happened if they had lost the final battle.

"Well," Rose said, his lazily tone back to normal. "Please leave, I need to get dressed." Rose said, sliding off of his bed and standing straight.

The blond looked up to the taller man. "What?" He asked.

Love grinned wide. "Just hurry up and go look at Shinji." He said walking to the door.

Rose cocked a brow and watched with confusion as Love left. Shaking his head at his very odd friend he let his mind wonder back to his dream. His heart immediately sped up and his stomach turned. He stalled, feeling his mouth water. He knew if he kept thinking about it he would throw up, so he didn't. The best he could away, the scene still played out in his head, no matter how hard he tried to stop it. So he simply hid his emotions to it. He sighed as he finished zipping his pants. He then slipped on his white, ruffled dress shirt, and finally his black jacket. But instead of his usual shoes he put on simple black dress boots. He was tired, feeling like he didn't sleep at all, but had actually gone to sleep very early that night.

'_What a horrible night._' Rose thought, rubbing his forehead and swallowing down his nausea.

He made his way downstairs to see everyone gathered around the front, Shinji was wringing out his soaking wet hair, while his shirt and pants clung to him. Rose laughed softly, no one hearing the sound apart from Love, who he was walking by. Mashiro was nagging Kensei, the gray haired man looking as though he were about to explode from annoyance. Lisa was reading her usual porn and Hachi was practicing kido as per usual. Hiyori was laughing at Shinji and kicking up dirt cloud after cloud of dirt so it would stick to his clothes. Rose walked over to a tattered chair and moving his guitar from it, he sit down.

"Shinji-kun," He said, Shinji looked back at him, a drop of water running down his forehead and off of his nose.

"Ya, what'cha want?" He said, his tone bored as his twisted his hair again, water dripping out in a tiny stream.

"Why are you wet?" Rose asked.

Shinji scowled. "Because-" He stalled, coughing roughly as another cloud of dust was kicked his way.

"Hiyori would you stop that!" He snarled, kicking a dusty cloud back at her.

Hiyori coughed and stumbled back. "You asshole!" She hissed, pulling off a sneaker.

"Shit…." Shinji sighed as Hiyori lunged at him.

Rose watched as Shinji went flying across the room, the curly blonds expression as lively as a bored child stuck in school during the most boring subject. The others watched as well, not even blinking when Shinji crashed into a wall and Hiyori jumped on him, slapping him with her shoe repeatedly. Mashiro cuddled up next to Kensei, shivering.

"It's so cold!" She said, nuzzling his side.

Kensei pushed at her half-heartedly. "Get off of me you little brat!" He growled.

Mashiro ignored him, wrapping her arms around him tighter. He sighed, poking her on the head. The bright green haired girl looked up to him.

"If you're so cold go put on some warm clothes instead of that freakin jumpsuit." He said.

"No." She said flatly.

Kensei's eye twitched. "Why?"

"Because I don't have to and you can't make me." She deadpanned.

Kensei raised his fist, about to hit her over the head.

"Mashiro is right." Shinji said.

Everyone looked to him, and Kensei sighed, letting his fist drop to his side. Shinji let out a breath of air, watching as the cloud of moisture slowly disappeared.

"It is too cold. We don't have any heat here." The blond said, pealing Hiyori's sneaker off of his face and giving it to her.

She took it, nodding in thanks. The others watched the exchange with overwhelming confusion, but decided not to remark on it. Rose himself didn't understand what the big fuss was about; he wasn't bothered by the cold at all.

"Do you really think so Shinji-kun?" The blond asked.

"You off your rocker Rose?" He asked, cocking a surprised brow. "It's freakin thirty degrees in here." He said, throwing his thumb at the thermometer that had already been hung on the warehouse walls when they first arrived there so many years ago.

"Really?" He asked, truly surprised. "It doesn't feel like it." Rose said, turning and looking at the little temperature gauge.

Shinji's brows furrowed as he stared at Rose. He noted how the man was dressed in his usual attire, and that attire happened to conserve very little heat. He found it a little more than odd, even Hiyori was shivering from the cold, and Hiyori never let you know what she was feeling, emotional or physical. Said little blond looked up, giving Shinji a nudge with her foot.

"What's up with you?" She said, following his gaze to Rose who was now tuning his guitar.

Shinji looked down to her, his expression bored. "Nothin', and even if there was, I wouldn't tell ya'-you nosy brat." He said, yelling in pain when Hiyori kicked him in the knee.

As Rose tuned his guitar his mind wondered, stopping once again on the dream and what laid inside of that last room. His stomach turned…..and he finally threw up.

A/N: Don't hate me, don't hate me, don't hate me! I'm sorry if it's not good! D: But please forgive any grammar and spelling that I missed, I really don't mean to miss them. :(

Also I hope you guys don't mind me doing Rose first, he is (Apart from Shinji) my favorite Vizard.


	2. Chapter 2

Ghost of Our Past: Part One

A/N: Next chapter, next chapter! :D Hmm I'm having way too much fun with this story. XD Away please forgive any grammar and spelling mistakes. ….I'm gonna buy a Coke and a Hershey's bar with almonds when I go to piano practice :/

XD I'm so freakin random!

Chapter Two

When Rose had thrown up Mashiro had dashed from the area and Kensei had looked away. Lisa had peaked over the top of her porno surprised, but after he had finished wrenching she went back to her magazine. Hiyori had watched, mouth hanging open in disgust, her fang showing and her eyes wide. Hachi had jumped to his feet, helping Rose as he vomited, patting his boney back with a huge hand while Love and Shinji frowned. They both knew something was wrong, but they didn't know what. After Rose had finished being sick Shinji threw his practically empty bottle of water at him, then ordered the blond to let Hachi examine him.

"I'm fine," Rose said, swallowing what was left of Shinji's water in one gulp. "Just something I ate."

"Don't give a damn if it's fine or not. Don't care if it's something ya' ate either. I don't want ya' pukin' all over this place." He said, waving his hand around lazily.

"Shinji-kun, really it isn't necessary." Rose said.

Shinji looked at him, his bright white teeth showing. "Don't care." He said, his voice bored.

Rose sighed, about to walk away when Hachi grabbed his arm. The Vizards were always surprised by the ever so gentle nature of the giant. He looked at Rose sadly, his eyes innocent despite what the man had seen and done.

"Please Rose-san, you could be ill. I've never seen you become sick like this. Allow me examine you, for you own good and our peace of mind." The pink haired man said, his voice deep but soft.

Rose had thought about saying no, but looking at the sad, worried look on Hachi's face, he couldn't.

Sighing, he gave in. "Alright Hachi." Rose said, confused when Shinji and Love walked up to watch Hachi work.

Hachi smiled gratefully and began to look at Rose, the blond sitting still as Hachi examined him. The pink haired man did things such as check his throat and feel around his body to see if there were any abnormalities. The giant paid special attention to the blonds back, continually asking if the old wound was acting up. As it turned out the damage the wound had caused was far worse than anyone had really thought. Rose constantly had back problems and always suffered some type of pain from his damaged spine. The blond sighed in lazy aggravation, even after refusing to do this; here he was-though he really hadn't protested _that_ much now that he thought about it. Rose was torn from his thoughts when Hachi sighed, taking a step back from Rose and turning to Shinji and Love.

"It must have been something he ate. There's nothing wrong with him." Hachi said, relief in his voice.

Rose smiled smugly, yet when it mixed with his usual lazy expression it just turned out sad. Making you think of a lost puppy.

Shinji's brows drew together. Maybe he was just overthinking things, but then again, maybe he wasn't. In all of the hundreds of years he had known Rose he'd never once heard him scream, or watched him puke. Everything that had happened this morning gave him a feeling of unease.

"What'd you scream for this mornin'?" Shinji asked, watching as Rose picked up his guitar and chair, moving away from the mess he'd created.

They followed him and listened as he began to tune his guitar again. "Just a silly, bad dream." He said, moving to the next string.

"Is must've not been that silly, since you about smashed us with your reiatsu. Not to mention soaked me." Shinji said, gesturing to his still wet, and because of Hiyori, dust covered clothes.

Rose laughed softly, closing his eyes as he began to play a tune, having finished tuning the instrument.

"I can't help the fact that you spilled water on yourself." He said, his fingers moving fluently from cord to cord.

Shinji's brows furrowed in aggravation. "I'm not usually one to sick my nose where it doesn't belong, it's just not my style." He said, Rose only continued to play.

Love could tell Rose's own mood was shifting, the tune on his guitar going from happy and slow to agitated and fast.

"But then again, I've never felt you spirit pressure go that high without your mask and I've never heard you scream." Shinji said darkly. "What was your dream?"

Rose's song got faster, his fingers jumping quicker and his tune becoming skittish. Love watched the two, knowing Shinji only meant well. Even though he tried to hide it, they all knew how much Shinji cared for each and every one of them. And when one of them exhibited more than odd behavior, he was the first to look into it. However Love also knew Rose kept to himself, keeping his secrets and just about everything else to himself. But Love decided to keep his nose out of this little quarrel.

"Azien won the war and killed all of us." Rose said, looking up and directly at Shinji.

Shinji's face twisted with shock and something akin to nervousness.

"Eh …" Shinji said scratching the back of his head, his voice still low and bored. "Well….I wouldn't call that a good dream."

Rose put down his guitar as Shinji gave him a nod of thanks and walked away.

'_Guess I was just over thinkin' things._' Shinji thought, ducking a kick from Hiyori. '_But then again, I might not._'

"What was that for!" Shinji yelled.

"For bein' a badly!" She yelled, swinging around and planting her heel into his face.

Rose smiled softly watching the two. Mashiro bounced back in after Hachi had cleared Rose's mess. No one had bothered to watch how. Kensei had actually fallen asleep during the time that had passed since he looked away and Lisa hadn't looked back up from her porn. Though everything fell back into normalcy immediately, Rose and Love were left out of the fray. Rose was still trying to block out the dream while Love wanted to know why Rose was lying. Given Rose had thought up a good lie, but Love knew better. Rose always looked for reactions when he lied to people. When he told the truth, he'd usually look away or on a rare occasion directly into their eyes. It was one of the oddest things about the blond, but it made figuring him out just a little easier. Walking over to his friend Love sat down beside him, leaning back in a spare chair that was beside of Rose. The blond didn't bother looking his way; instead he started to play again. It was a soft song, and the warehouse quieted down some when they heard it. Rose had always hummed it while a captain in soul society and when he came to the human world, he'd started playing it.

The melody itself was sad, but at the same time it sent a wave of comfort over you that relaxed you. It was rare for Rose to play it, only doing so every now and then. The Vizards related to the sad little song, so whenever Rose played it, they listened. Love listened, watching as Rose played and hummed. A long time ago Love had asked Rose if he knew the words and the blond simply smiled his lazy smile and shook his head. As the tune went on Love decided to question Rose later, right now there was a certain peace settled over the warehouse and no one wanted to break it.

A/N: I REALLY don't like this chapter AT FREAKING ALL. :P Kinda just makes me wanna break the computer. Anyway please forgive any missed grammar and spelling. And sorry it took so long to update….I just took a really long vacation from writing soooo…..yaaaa sorry.


	3. Chapter 3

Ghost of Our Past: Part One

A/N: :o

Anyway please forgive any missed grammar or spelling.

Chapter Three

_The forest Love stood in was dead, winter having stolen away any forms of life there had been in the summer. Flaks fell from the gray sky above and soundlessly landed on the ground, laying blanket after blanket of freezing snow on the ground. Love cocked a brow; he'd been watching the little child in front of him for hours with a mixture of worry and concern. The little boy was starved and looked no older than one or two years old. And the fact that the child was covered from head to toe in blood didn't help. Love watched on as the child played in the deep snow, his tiny fingers turning red from the biting cold. The dark skinned man felt a jolt of surprise when the little boy looked straight into his eyes. _

"_When's mama and papa wakin' up?" He asked, his tiny voice cutting through the silence of the dead forest with ease._

~0~

Love jumped up in his bed, his blankets flying about from the sudden movement. His breath was ragged and fast, the harsh pants echoing through his room as he looked around. The dark man brought up a hand and wiped sweat form his brow, then tried calming down. He'd never had a dream so…odd before, and he'd never been so spooked by a silly dream before either. Shaking his head and pushing the dream back Love looked around his room shivering slightly. It was colder than yesterday, which had been miserable. Looking outside his window Love watched as the snow fell in fat fluffy balls, landing softly on the rooftops and covering the vegetation around the warehouse in white. Love turned and stood from his bed, cracking his back and other bones, the sounds like gunshots in the deathly quiet. Love figured everyone was still asleep; he always woke up before the others anyway. Pulling on some shoes and fixing his jogging pants up, Love plucked his sunglasses from his nightstand. Sighing and pulling on a huddie he placed the dark shades on their rightful throne, then made his way downstairs. However he was shocked to see a shadowed figure wondering about on the first floor, a guitar in its hand. Cocking a brow Love jumped down from the third floor, his landing almost inaudible.

"Rose," He said, walking up to the thin blond. "What are you doing up so early?"

The curly blond turned around, his eyes half lidded and tired. "Oh, hello Love-kun." He said. "I might ask you the same thing."

Love looked at him confused. "I'm always up early, but you're always one of the last ones to get up."

Rose smiled. "Ah, that is true." He said, sitting down and plucking at his guitar.

Love's brows shot up when he finally noticed what Rose was wearing. Instead of his usual elegant dress shirt and coat, all he had on was his sweat pants and a pristine white t-shirt that was so white it made your eyes hurt. Mashiro had always said Rose was excellent with the laundry. However that was besides the point, Love was about to freeze to death and Rose wasn't even batting an eyelash at the freezing weather.

"Aren't you cold?" Love asked, gesturing to Rose's clothes.

The blond looked at himself and grinned lazily. "No, are you?" He said, his expression as bored as ever.

"Ya, I'm freezing my ass off, and you should be to." Love said reaching over Rose and pulling at a guitar sting.

Both watched the white frost crack and break away at the movement. Rose let his brows drift up in mild interest.

"Is it really that cold?" He said, rubbing the rest of the frost off of the instrument. "It really doesn't seem like it."

Love shook his head dumbfounded. "You really are something else." He said, listening as Rose began his ritualistic tuning.

"Maybe you're just too sensitive." Rose parried, grinning.

Love cracked a grin and walked away to pick up the manga he'd left on the floor yesterday. Looking at it he remembered the events with Rose. Walking back over to the blond Love sat down and watched as he tuned the last string. However after a moment Rose stalled, feeling Love staring at him. The blond looked over to his friend and cocked a brow.

Love thought a moment before speaking. "Why did you lie to Shinji the other day, and me for that matter?" He said, flipping lazily through Rose's manga.

He looked up when he heard the blond swallow loudly, Love's eyes growing wide. Rose looked like he was going to be sick again. His already pale skin got paler and his eyes were wide while his throat worked as he swallowed roughly. The dark man didn't have a clue what he had said to make Rose so sick, but this added on with yesterday's problems made him suspicious. However he was torn from his thoughts when Rose bent over and placed his face in his hands, his guitar nestled in his lap, forgotten. Rose's blond hair hid his face from view and his boney back rose and fell slowly as he tried to settle his stomach. Love stood and walked in front of Rose, grabbing his hands pulling them away from his face.

"Rose, what the hell is wrong with you?" Love said, though his face was bland a tiny layer of concern laced his otherwise bored voice.

Rose swallowed again, his throat bobbing up and down. "It's fine, Love. Everything is fine; I'm just a little queasy. As I said the oth-" Love cut the blond off.

"You didn't eat the other day, so don't give me that. You woke up screaming bloody murder, crushed us with you spirit pressure, and then vomited all over the place. You've never done that, what's wrong with you?" Love said, his tone still bored and uncaring.

Rose looked to Love aggravated, his purple eyes flashing dangerously. Love watched and let go of Rose's wrist, the thin limbs dropping limply. Love knew Rose hated telling anyone about himself and Love also knew how much Rose hated to be worried or cared for. No one knew why, but Rose hated it with a passion and would often snap at anyone who tried to push it onto him. While a captain he was notorious for refusing help and leaving when wounded. Love himself didn't like to be worried for either, but he didn't hate it, nor would he grow angry if it was pushed onto him. Love often wondered how he and Rose were such close friends, they were complete opposites in almost every way expect for their love of music and reading. Love watched Rose think, the blonds eyes narrowing as his argued with himself, not sure what to do. However a long moment later he was still silent and Love sighed. Yes Rose was becoming worrisome, but forcing the blond to tell him would only result in him lying again.

"It's alright Rose." Love said, going back to his chair. "You don't have to say anything."

Rose didn't respond, but instead picked up his guitar and began to play. Love listened and picked up reading where he had left off the other day. He didn't pay it any mind when everything went quiet again as Rose stalled in his playing.

"Their brains…..they…they were all over the place…." Rose said softly.

Love looked up shocked, that wasn't what he'd been expecting. "What?" He said, looking at Rose's hidden face.

The blond had bent his head down and was staring at his instrument.

"It was a blood bath, Love. I've never seen so much before. I-I didn't even know there was that much blood in our bodies." Rose said.

Love really didn't know how to respond. "That's what you dreamed?"

Rose nodded. "There were two people, a man and a woman. Their heads were…bashed in. I could see their brains. And their eyes were…and…the man…he'd…ugh!" Rose hunched over, cupping his hands to his mouth and gagging.

His guitar clambered to the floor and Love jumped to his feet. Quickly going over to Rose he helped the blond as he dry heaved, his empty stomach producing nothing to vomit. However as Rose kept trying to puke, he also tried to continue talking, coughing and gagging on choked sentences Love couldn't understand. And it seemed the further he got into the dream the sicker he became.

"Ro-Rose listen, just leave it." Love said, stumbling as Rose short forward, coughing violently. "You don't have to tell me, just leave it be." Love said, helping the blond sit up when he stopped heaving.

Not only did he want to avoid a repeat of the current situation in the future, he honestly didn't want to hear the rest. Even though what Rose had told him had been short, it was extremely horrid. Love knew Rose for having a cast-iron stomach and the blond had seen men and women alike blow to bits and cut in half while a captain, never even batting an eyelash. If that dream had him in such a mess, Love really didn't want to know.

A/N: …eeeehhhh I don't like this chapter either….but it had to be done. Kinda sets the foundation to the rest of the story. Man…now I'm sad…. I don't like this chapter… :(

Anyway please forgive any missed grammar and spelling. Sorry about that…


	4. Chapter 4

Ghost of Our Past: Part One

A/N: :D

Please forgive any missed grammar or spelling.

Chapter Four

It had been one week since Love and Rose had talked that early morning and Love had kept his word, he'd not asked Rose about the dream anymore, however that brought little relief to the blond. Rose lay in bed tossing and turning, his brows furrowed in discomfort as he groaned. His body was covered in a thin layer of sweat, thin strands of golden hair sticking to his slick skin. His hands clutched tightly into the sheets and his nails dug into his palms, the thin sheets he had wrapped himself in offering little protection. Jerking roughly to the side the blond whimpered, falling victim to the horrors of his mind.

~0~

_Rose was sinking, his world turning black as a deathly coldness engulfed him. His body was heavy and he watched as bubbles floated from his throat and danced to the surface of the water. He looked as the sun shined a weak beam of light that shot into the blackness of the frozen river he was in. Weakly he reached out a hand, his chest growing heaver and burning horribly. Watching as black vines crawled from the corners of his vision he drifted his eyes upward once more. He was about to die and his death was slow and painful, but worst of all, lonely. He saw no one up on the bank looking for him as he sank and he didn't hear any muffled shouts of worry or concern. Rose closed his eyes sadly, he would die all alone here in this dirty reviver, but he supposed, that was alright. Rose opened his eyes to see the sun one last time, but instead saw a figure shatter the surface of the water and swim toward him, gripping his wrist tightly and pulling him into its chest. They rose quickly upward and Rose breathed in a lung full of water, his world finally going completely black._

~0~

Rose shot up in the bed, groping at the air for land to pull himself out of the water. It took him a moment to realize that it had been a dream, that he wasn't drowning and he was wet because of his perspiration. His ragged breathing was loud in his quiet room, echoing around the area and fading away slowly. He looked around, grabbing at his throat and feeling down his chest, the burning that had consumed him in the dream gone. With wide, confused eyes Rose looked down to his shaking hands. He'd been through this before, this becoming almost like a morning routine. For the past week he'd been having horrible nightmares he far from understood and he'd wake up shaken to the core. Curling in on himself Rose wrapped his arms around his thin frame and rocked back and forth. As he tried to calm back down he knew he couldn't take much more of this. For not only was his mind assaulted in his sleep, it was every time he closed his eyes. All the time there was some horrid scene flashing through his mind, blood and death the focal point of the ghoulish images. His could feel his mind breaking, cracking under the pressure of these nightmares. He knew if this kept up, his mind would shatter completely.

Love was dozing, the dark man sleeping in much later than he normally would. His brows furrowed and a puzzled expression consumed his features. He tossed to the side and breathed out a loud sigh, a hot cloud of moisture appeared, but then disappeared just as quickly. The dark man had piles of blankets covering his form to protect him from the bitter cold, but still he shivered, unable to find any protection from the cold.

~0~

_Love looked around the tattered village he was in, watching the dirty, skinny inhabits walk by. Their faces were tired and worn, as were their clothes and homes. Many of the homes were rundown with holes scattering the roofs and termites eating away at the walls and steps. No smoke came from any of the houses which told Love that they had no heat. Looking down when something ran by him he watched as the little boy from the woods stumbled, falling in the snow. Tears filled his eyes as a circle of red started to paint the snow, the tiny child having spilt his hand open on a rock. He listened sadly as the boy started to cry, holding his hand as big tears rolled down his bony face. He watched as the little child cried and people walked by, not bothering to help him up or bind his deep cut. It was a truly pitifully sight that pulled roughly on Love's heart strings. The tiny, starved child wailed loudly as blood ran from the wound, landing in the cold snow and melting it quickly. The little boy clumsily got to his feet and stumbled into a passerby, only to be swiftly hit and knocked back to the ground._

"_Don't touch me you filthy rat!" The man said, the women with him watching on with a bored expression._

_The little boy whimpered softly, but didn't rise from the snow, his eyes shedding more tears. Love wanted to help him, but he had learned from his first dream that he couldn't touch anything or be heard. So he stood and watched as no one helped the child, the tiny boy curling up into a ball in the snow while his blood painted the ground red._

~0~

Love's eyes shot open, his chest heavy with emotion. He rose up in the bed and looked around, his heart aching for the little child that had been haunting his dreams for the last handful of nights. That skeletal little boy who didn't have a home nor a protector. He suffered horrible in every dream Love had and every time Love woke up heartbroken and devastated. Love didn't understand why he kept having dream after dream about that boy, but every time he did, he felt more and more broken. The life that boy lived in Love's dreams was horrible, he didn't have anything and no one bothered to help him. A stray animal lived better than that little boy and was treated better as well. In every dream the child would be abused by the villagers, always being beaten or becoming the butt of a cruel joke or experiment. Love pinched the bridge of his nose, he was tired and his heart worn thin. For the past week he'd had nothing but dreams of that poor kid and it was eating away at him. It was driving him insane with grief and Love silently wondered when it would end.

~0~

Shinji walked around on the first floor of the warehouse, watching as every breath he took came out in a translucent white cloud. Once again it was snowing outside and the warehouse had gotten even colder. Shinji was starting to worry about the others, yes they could withstand bitter cold, but this was the worst winter they had ever spent at the warehouse. He and the others were slowly freezing and everyone was shivering, even Hiyori. He stalled as he stopped by a window, sticking his glove covered hands in his fluffy jacket; his brows drew together in worry at the thought of the Rose. The blond hadn't been his normal self in days and everyone was on guard, not used to Rose acting the way he was. He had taken to wondering the warehouse at night and walking outside in the snow, sometimes with shoes, sometimes without. He would disappear for hours on end and Shinji couldn't remember the last time Rose had eaten and the blond looked like a walking skeleton. His bones looked like they would rip though his skin at any second and none of his clothes fit right anymore. Hachi was about to have an aneurism because of Rose, but no matter how much Hachi examined him he never found anything that could be causing Rose's problems. The blond had barely said a word in a week and whenever he did speak it was soft and distant. He refused to hold or start a conversation; instead he just sat off by himself and played his guitar.

Shinji had actually taken the blond's guitar away, Rose having played it so much the other day with fingers dried and cracked from the cold that they had started to bleed. Though Rose showed no reactions to the freezing cold weather, his body was still easily affected by it. When Mashiro had squeaked with shock and pointed at the blond, Shinji and the others had followed her finger and looked on with surprise as Rose continued to play while blood slowly dripped down his arm. Not noticing that he had broken the skin on his bony fingers. The man had simply kept staring off into space, not even realizing when Shinji pried his hands away from the instrument and took it away. And thinking of Rose brought up Love, the dark man having been in a state himself the past few days. He had been waking up just before Rose which was very far from normal. Love would come down looking tired and worn, and his features layered with a certain sadness that no one could understand. Every day it was the same thing and Love would become more and more depressed. He smiled less and laughed less, not even reading Rose's manga or listening to music. He had been eating less and hadn't had a conversation with anyone unless the other person started it. And the Vizards had often seen Love reach for something, his face twisted with sorrow, only to draw it back, as if realizing whatever he'd reached for wasn't there. All Love seemed to do lately was sleep and even though he was still better off than Rose the fact that both of them were in a funk was troublesome. Shinji wasn't going to lie; he was worried about Rose and Love. He'd never seen the two the way they are now and he couldn't help but be on edge. Shinji sighed loudly, walking away from the window and going after a bottle of water. He was almost to his breaking point with both of them, he wasn't going to stand by and watch members of his '_family_' suffer. If things didn't get better, he would soon be making his way to Urahara's.

Which little did he know, would be sooner than he expected.

A/N: Blah….man now I really, honestly do hate this chapter, but like the last one….it is very necessary. Man, this one…it…..ugh it just sucks.

Well please forgive any missed grammar and spelling.


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